FACTS which contradict what is taught in the universities and which even run counter to the assumptions made by critics of misandry.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Patricia Corcoran, 12-Year-Old Axe Murderess - 1956

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 4): Oakland, Calif., Oct. 6 – Formal
murder charges were filed against Patricia Corcoran, 12-year-old schoolgirl
from South Dakota who hacked her aunt to death with a butcher knife and axe
because she feared punishment for losing a $5 bill.

The youngster was arrested Friday night after she calmly
admitted the bloody slaying of Mrs. Guy Bruce, 55, in the kitchen of their
modest Oakland home.

She said she also had planned to kill her uncle, but gave up
the idea when he entered the back door and found her standing on a washing
machine with the bloody axe in her hand.

Deputy District Attorney W. Sayer Snook said a formal
complaint had been filed yesterday charging the girl with murder and said
arrangements were being made to arraign her in Municipal Court where she will
mandatorily be transferred to the Juvenile court.

Mr. Snook said the girl had been given a preliminary
psychiatric examination by Dr. Douglas Kelly, but that the findings on her
mental health condition would not be divulged until a more complete check-up is
made.

She said she brooded over the matter during her classes at
Bret Harte Junior High School and during a later catechism class at St. Jariath’s
Catholic Church.

When she arrived home, she said, she got a hand axe from the
garage and concealed it behind her back while she waited for Mrs. Bruce to
return from her job at Oakland Naval Supply Center.

She said she exchanged “hi” greetings with her aunt and then
when the older woman’s back was turned she struck her on the head with the axe,
when Mrs. Bruce fell unconscious, the girl grabbed a butcher knife and stabbed
her repeatedly in the back.

Patricia is one of nine children of Mr. and Mrs. William J.
Corcoran, who live on a farm near Mitchell, S. D. She came here several months
ago to live with her aunt and uncle.

At Mitchell, the girl’s mother was shocked by the news and
said her daughter “must have been desperately homesick.”

“She’s an awfully good little one,” she said. “She’s a good
student, always made friends and was always made friends and was always
cheerful. She is just a common, normal child.”

Headline:
Lonely Patricia Tells Story of Life, Homesick
for South Dakota Farm, ‘Too Many
People Here - Explains 12-Year-Old
Who Slew Her Aunt ~

For
the first time in her 12 years, Patricia Corcoran was away from her parents and eight brothers and sisters who were
tier playmates and companions.

Instead
of life on the farm near Mitchell, South Dakota, with its broad spaces but
crowded home, the girl was “transplanted” to Oakland where her aunt and uncle
Mr. and Mrs. Guy Bunce, of 3462 Rhoda Ave. provided love and care.

It
was unusual for this childless couple to have a a child in the house. It was
strange for the girl to be the only child. There was much adjusting to do.

~ FIT
OF FRENZY ~

The
girl never made it. Thursday evening in. a fit of frenzy this girl, who won’t
even enter her teens for six months and who has a child’s figure despite a
woman’s height, hacked

her
aunt — her foster mother — to death with a hatchet and two knives.

Ironically,
she was sent here from the farm by her parents who felt that she would have
vastly greater opportunities in being reared by the foster parents.

In
South Dakota she was apparently a normal child.

Here
she is a child murderess.

Psychologists
and psychiatrists at the Alameda County Juvenile Hall will have to try to solve
the riddle of why? … Why? … why? … this apparently normal 7th grade
girl should have turned into Alameda County’s youngest murderess in a slaying
that has little equal in bloody brutality.

~ THAT LOST $5 BILL~

Was
it because she had lost a $5 bill and was brooding about it? That reason is too
meager. Or is there a deeper, more penetrating reason?

“Pat,”
as she is called, is a thin-faced child with dark brown hair, its natural curl
cut almost like a boy’s. She has dark hazel eyes, a wide mouth. She is 5 feet 3
inches tall and weighs 105 pounds.

She
admitted yesterday that she was homesick here. She said likes everything in
South Dakota better than anything she found here.

She
is apt to answer questions in monosyllables. Any animation is brief and
flickers past to be replaced by composure. A frequent word is “well...” Once a
question is answered she makes no move to continue the conversation.

~ PICTURE OF HOME~

But all
unconsciously she gave a picture of work, fun and pleasure on the little farm
she left a month ago to come here.

There
were some things she liked better than others on the farm but she failed to
mention anything she truly disliked.

What
does she like to do?

“I
like to ride horses. Ever since I was a little kid we had workhorses and us
kids rode. We had ‘Betty’ and ‘Bob’—that was one team — and ‘Lady’ and ‘Blaze.’
They were workhorses but we rode them a lot. Like out after the cows.

“‘Betty’
and ‘Bob’ liked us. They got old and lazy. One night they got out on the road
and got hit so we had to send them to the fox farm.”

~ HAD
MANY PETS ~

What kind of pets did they have?

“We had dogs, cats, calves and a pig. The pig’s name was
‘Buster.’ Dad sold it.”

Then she exclaimed. “Oh, doggone it.” She had dropped a
half-eaten pear.

“I liked the dog best. The one we’ve got now. ‘Mae.’ He is a
black cocker spaniel”

Yes, she likes rock ‘n roll and her favorite is – who else?
– Elvis Presley. The comment that the interviewer had met her hero brought no
particular response.

There
was no television at the farm but there was at her aunt’s home here. She always
tried to get home from school “for the good programs.”

~
‘DON’T READ BOOKS’ ~

Asked
about books she said “I don’t read much in books. But I like stories about
horses.”

Spelling
is her favorite subject. She got fairly good marks in everything but math. Back
‘“home” she went to a country school with 11 pupils from five families

“We
walked about a mile to school.

“Last
year I missed only one day of school I was sick that day.”

She likes to ride around in cars. At home the youngsters m
the family “got to take the car to town and monkey around with it. Then we got
to drive the tractor. That was fun. Most of the time, though, we listened to
the radio.”

She is the fifth of the nine children of Mr. and Mrs.
William Corcoran. Her middle name is her mother’s first name – Faye.

“My brother – He’s in Texas. My oldest sister is in Detroit.
The rest are at home.”

“I
like to cook. Cakes especially.”

Does
she like things inside or outside the house best?

“Inside.”

She
described the farm house as a “great big one.”

White?

“Yes.”

~ OTHER ANSWERS ~

What
is grown on the farm?

“Well,
oats and corn.”

How
big is it?

“I
don’t know. It isn’t too big “

What
is your favorite sport?

“I
like baseball. We played that at school”

Do
you like school out here?

“Well
. . . yes.”

How
does it compare with school in South Dakota? Do you like it better there?

The
law today began the long and difficult process of attempting to learn the
reason for the swift act of 12-year-old Patricia (Pat) Corcoran in killing the
aunt who had taken the South Dakota girl into her home.

A
Requiem High Mass for the slain woman, Mrs. LaVern Bunce, 54, will be held
Monday at 9 a.m. at St. Jariath’s Catholic Church. She died, according to Dr.
George S. Loquvam, Alameda County pathologist, from multiple hatchet blows and
stab wounds.

The
girl admitted to police that she killed her aunt in the neat white stucco home
at 3462 Rhoda Ave. Thursday evening in a fit of frenzy, which, until a better
motive is found, apparently stemmed from brooding over $5 “Pat” had lost after
her aunt had given it to her.

~
SEEMS NORMAL ~

With
her violent emotion spent, “Pat” slept well last night at the Alameda county
Juvenile Hall where she is under close supervision. Attendants said there is
“nothing unusual” in her conduct.

Alameda
County’s youngest murderess will make her first court appearance before Oakland
Municipal Judge Homer Buckley Monday when she will be certified to Juvenile
Court, on the murder complaint issued yesterday.

Then
will start the psychological and psychiatric study in an attempt to ascertain
through her background, attitude, personality, and observation some solution to
the crime that has baffled authorities who have seen the lanky, dark-haired
youngster.

~
WEEKS OF STUDY ~

The
recommendation of the Alameda County Probation Department at the end of its
weeks of study will be given Juvenile Judge Ralph E. Hoyt, who will make
disposition of the case. Dr. Douglas Kelley, the University of California
criminologist, who questioned “Pat” the night of the crime said “anyone who
takes another person’s life is emotionally disturbed.” He said it would take
more time for him to make a diagnosis.

One
of the girl’s comments when police came in response to the anguished call of
the slain woman’s husband, Guy, 54, was ‘I must be crazy.”

Pat
was brought from the farm near Mitchell, South Dakota, where she was one of nine
children of the William Corcorans, to live with the aunt and uncle a month ago.
The Oakland couple were childless and it was thought by both couples that the
girl could have more advantages here. She had enrolled in Bret Harte Junior
High School where classmates and teachers said she was a quiet girl.

Bunce,
a battery company moulder and brother of Pat’s mother, said he believed the
girl was happy and was mystified about the motive.

Both
he and the girl’s father are expected to be in court Monday. The uncle said he
held “no malice, just sorrow.” The father is driving out from South Dakota.

FULL
TEXT (Article 4 of 4): Patricia Faye Corcoran, 12, the ax slayer of her Oakland
aunt, will go free at the age of 21 or before.

This
was determined today when Superior Judge Ralph E. Hoyt committed the girl to
the California Youth Authority rattier than order her through regular court
processes.

Judge
Hoyt said she will first be studied at a CYA reception center and then placed
in an institution of the type to best help rehabilitate her.

~ BECAME ‘HOMESICK’ ~

Patricia
murdered her aunt, Mrs. LaVern Bunce, 55, on Oct. 4 because she became
“homesick.” The girl had been staying with her aunt and uncle in Oakland at
3462 Rhoda St., after coming here from her home on a South Dakota farm.

Judge
Hoyt made his decision after asking Guy C. Bunce, 54, the dead woman’s husband,
and Patricia’s father, William Corcoran, 61, here from South Dakota, if they
wished to make any statement.

Neither
did.

Patricia
appeared her usual calm self during the hearing at which Judge Hoyt announced
his decision to spare her the rigors of a court trial.

Conceivably,
had Patricia been ordered to court, she could have been tried as an adult and
possibly imprisoned for life. By being ordered directly to the Youth Authority,
she becomes free at the age of 21 when that agency’s jurisdiction ends, or
before the age of 21 if the CYA decrees she has been rehabilitated.

~ LEGALLY SANE ~

Patricia
was declared legally sane by examining psychiatrists. Had she been insane at
the time of the murder, she would have been committed to a mental hospital with
the possibility of facing criminal proceedings after being declared cured.

Patricia,
fifth in a family of nine children, was brought here in September by the Bunce
to live with them because the Bunces, childless themselves, felt she could have
more advantages.

She
displayed virtually no emotion after the violent crime last month. Judge Hoyt
at an earlier hearing ordered a polygraph (lie detector) test made [by a]
psychologist to determine the child’s “involuntary reactions,” in part to learn
if she regretted the crime.

Today,
Judge Hoyt called for results of the tests, in report form, and studied them
before making his decision.